Gumbo

quote:

---

Savoie's dark roux

---

New York City?

how do i do that?

I'm making chicken and sausage gumbo right now. It's for a party tomorrow.

Get a big arse pot for the top of the stove.
Mine is cast iron.

I mix 1/2 stick of butter and 1/4 cup of olive oil for the roux. Add 1/2 cup of flour GRADUALLY...stirring in just a couple of table spoons at a time so you don't get clumps. I use a wooden spoon to reduce noise. Stirring is key. You're gonna do a lot of it for a long time.

Keep the heat low during this process. While I'm stirring in spoons of flour and mixing I leave the pot to chop two large onions, some green onions, some garlic, red bell pepper and andouille sausage (already smoked).

When the roux comes to chocolate colored brown you need to do the spoon test. If you can scrape the bottom of the pot and the roux takes 2 seconds to fill in the scrape it's good. If the roux fills in immediately you need more flour. If the roux doesn't fill in for 3 or 4 seconds it's too thick..add some butter or oil.

Then throw in the veggies (not the sausage). While the veggies are cooking get out your chicken. I use 3 pounds of thighs with skin taken off but bone left in. BTW, I use 2 pounds of sausage with this recipe.

Keep stirring those veggies and after 5 minutes throw in your stock or water (I use a mix of water and chicken stock)..about half the content of the pot should be filled with the stock plus the veggies.

Then add the chicken and cook at a low medium temp...for about an hour. Then take out chicken to let cool and add sausage. When chicken is cool, remove from bone and throw back in the pot.
Add salt and red pepper to taste and allow to simmer for another hour.

Serve over rice with fillet. I'm not an okra fan.

The last roux I made it took an hour an 10 minutes. I had it on a very low heat for only about .5 cups of oil an flour, lets just say I will turn the heat up a bit next time. I never checked the heat, I think a med heat will do well nex time.

A homemade roux is what takes gumbo over the top, but if you want to use the Savoie's roux, it's okay. Just okay, but acceptable flavor. I know some folks who just cannot master a good roux. They ain't got it.

IF you use the Savoie's, there are several things you can do. Brown off SOME, NOT ALL of the sausage/andoulle you plan to use in a cast iron skillet. Brown enough sausage to give you some good fat from it in the pan and some of the browned pieces that stick to the pot. I would actually add a bit of that sausage to the gumbo, but I'd probably eat some of it while I made the gumbo.

Add the Savoie's and stir well, so it doesn't stick and so you pick up some of the browned residue. THEN, add your trinity to the warmed roux and stir until that cooks somewhat in the roux. Meanwhile, hopefully, you've had some stock with the bones from the chicken simmering in it. Remove the bones. I don't add roux to the skillet. I add roux to the pot and stir as I add each cooking spoon full. I make a lot of gumbo at once, so I don't have enough room in my cast iron pieces to hold it all.

Let the roux simmer a bit, maybe 30 minutes or so before adding your meats. Gumbo does not have to be cooked all day long, contrary to some opinions. You simply don't want crispy veggies in it, though some folks like the veggies to cook away completely. Do what you like, but don't cook the hell out of the meats, especially the sausage, which needs only to simmer for about 30 minutes.Add chopped garlic at this time. After the sausage simmers, take the oil and grease off the top of the pot, add some fresh chopped green onions to the pot or to the individual bowls.

You will have a more than acceptable gumbo, even though you cheated with Savioe's. And, using smoked chicken works well with this "cheater's" method, if you like. Just make sure the chicken isn't too strong.

Let us know how it turns out.

i made my own roux by mixing 1/4 a cup of oil and adding 1 cup of flour slowly. I stirred it till it was the color of a dark penny (i like dark roux) and tasted it to make sure it wasnt bitter.
Then I put in the creole mix of onions and stuff from Albertson's. Let that boil in half a pot of water for 30 minutes. Then i added two whole chickens cut up and some chicken sausage.

It looks pretty good, and im letting it cook for another hour and a half.

Oh, and I chopped some bell peppers and jalapeños and threw them in there with the chicken.

I hope it comes out better than the Savoie's because I enjoyed making my own roux much more!

Thanks for all the advice.

it ended up being pretty viscous. and the right color. I guess we will see

keep in mind that i like it really thick.














































thats what she said...

But if it's already thick don't add any at all. It's not really a flavor thing.

quote:

---

I mix 1/2 stick of butter and 1/4 cup of olive oil for the roux. Add 1/2 cup of flour GRADUALLY...stirring in just a couple of table spoons at a time so you don't get clumps. I use a wooden spoon to reduce noise. Stirring is key. You're gonna do a lot of it for a long time.

---

Uhmmm...try 'browning' the flour dry, it gets the job done in a few minutes. Then add butter and oil. You can't tell the difference.